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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25490341">The Room of Requirement</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yatorihell/pseuds/Yatorihell'>Yatorihell</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In The Darkness [51]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, ノラガミ | Noragami (Anime &amp; Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Multi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:08:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,734</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25490341</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yatorihell/pseuds/Yatorihell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Yato and Hiyori find out the extent of Yukine’s punishment and decide to take action.<br/>Thank you Blue (kiun.tumblr) for beta-ing</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Iki Hiyori/Yato</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In The Darkness [51]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/547369</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Room of Requirement</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Yato kept an eye on the Great Hall doors all throughout dinner, but Yukine didn’t emerge. It was getting later and later until the sun had set entirely and the hall was emptying, remnants of cold, half-eaten food disappearing from the plates by magic.</p><p>Yato towed Yukine’s bag over to Gryffindor’s table. Hiyori sat talking with Bishamon, who gave him a less hostile welcome than he was used to. It seemed that she had softened on him after the Triwizard Tournament. </p><p>“Have you seen Yukine?” Yato asked Hiyori.</p><p>“Not since class. Didn’t he come down for dinner?” Hiyori looked perplexed and craned her neck to look at Hufflepuff’s table, although most of the students had already gone back to their dorm.</p><p>Yato shook his head and Hiyori frowned.</p><p>“Maybe Professor Oshi gave him a long detention, or sent him to work with groundskeeper Kuraha in the Forbidden Forest.” Hiyori suggested. Even though students weren’t allowed in the forest, it was fine to send them there for detention, which sounded ludicrous to Hiyori when she first heard of it.</p><p>Yato hummed in response, not convinced. “If he comes down tell him I’ll give him his bag tomorrow.”</p><p>With that, Yato bidded Hiyori and Bishamon goodnight before heading back to the Slytherin common room, the bag slung over his shoulder. He took a detour via the library, but still, there was no sign of Yukine.</p><p><em>Must be in Hufflepuff,</em> Yato thought to himself.</p><p>Yato wandered the route to his own dormitory, passing groups of students less frequently as he reached the stairs that descended into the dungeons. He entered the Slytherin common room, half-expecting Nora to make her usual dramatic appearance in the dim firelight, but she was still nowhere in sight.</p><p>Yato’s dormitory was empty, his bunkmates probably still at dinner or finding a way to kill their spare time before curfew. He dropped Yukine’s bag at the foot of his bed and flopped onto the cushy mattress. Green silk sheets spread underneath his fingertips, worthy of Slytherin royalty and matching the heavy drapes that hung around the four posters.</p><p>Yato stared up at the canopy, thoughts flitting between Yukine, the Sorcerer, and their new Defence class regime. He debated trekking up the tower to the owlery to send Sakura a letter as he hadn’t spoken to her since he’d arrived at Hogwarts. As he sat up to go with a sigh, Yato remembered the silver hand mirror tucked away in his bedside drawer.</p><p>Yato reached over and opened the drawer silently. Inside was his wand, a few sweets from the previous year, the hairband Hiyori tied his hair up with, and the hand mirror. He picked it up delicately and peered into the smooth surface of the mirror, his hesitant reflection looking back at him.</p><p>“Sakura?” Yato sat cross-legged on the bed and waited. In the blink of an eye Yato’s reflection vanished and Sakura’s face appeared in the mirror.</p><p>“Yato, I thought you forgot about me!” Sakura joked. She looked the same as usual which was somewhat of a relief.</p><p>Yato smiled at her. “Not yet.”</p><p>“How’s Hogwarts?” Sakura asked. Yato could see she was walking by the way her bangs fell across her eyes as she spoke.</p><p>“It’s fine, but the Ministry has sent a new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and she isn’t teaching us anything,” Yato replied.</p><p>Sakura let out a small laugh and she came to a halt, perhaps sitting down as Yato could see the soft glow of candlelight on the side of her face. “Come on, it hasn’t even been a week yet.”</p><p>“No Sakura, she literally isn’t teaching us.” Yato insisted. “We have to read a chapter in class then write what we learned for homework. No practical magic allowed.”</p><p>Sakura’s smile faded instantly. “No magic?”</p><p>“None.”</p><p>“What good is that in a Defence class? Let me guess, she doesn’t believe the Sorcerer is back?” Sakura asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She wasn’t a fan of the Ministry nowadays, and this was just the cherry on top of an already bad situation.</p><p>“Yep.” Yato replied.</p><p>“Merlin would weep,” Sakura cursed. “If the Ministry has stopped Defence lessons then you need to find a way to learn yourself.”</p><p>Yato frowned and leant closer to the mirror, elbow resting on his knee. The idea of self-teaching hadn’t crossed his mind. “How could we do that? Class is basically a prison with her watching us.”</p><p>“You won’t need a classroom, just a room where you could come and go,” Sakura said this last part with a secret smile, one that Yato felt hid a clue.</p><p>“What do you mean, a room we could come and go to?” Yato asked.</p><p>Sakura smiled mischievously, eyes sparkling in the candlelight, and Yato couldn’t help but see Hiyori staring back at him at that moment.</p><p>“You need to find the-.”</p><p>Footsteps outside the dorm startled Yato. He quickly put the mirror in his lap, face down, and muffling what Sakura was saying. Yato waited for a few seconds with tentative ears for them to enter, but whoever was outside had passed. A door clicked shut down the hallway where first-year dorms were.</p><p>Yato sighed and picked up the mirror again, beginning to repeat his question, but Sakura was gone.</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>Yato and Hiyori stood in a shady corner of the central courtyard after their morning classes waiting for Yukine. They had separate classes that morning, but the three of them would be together for the next few hours in Potions.</p><p>Yato had Yukine’s bag over his shoulder. He hoped that Yukine wouldn’t get angry at the Defence book he had tucked in there after Professor Oshi’s class.</p><p>Although it was barely mid-September the summer heat was beginning to wane. They could feel the chill of autumn creeping in, but still the sunbeams persisted in bathing the school in a golden morning glow. Shadowy alcoves of the hallway gave some respite to those who wanted to stay in the shade, whilst others lounged on the stone benches that dotted the greenery of the courtyard. Flowers that had been freshly planted at the beginning of the year were already being trampled by rampant first-year students, much to Kiun’s annoyance.</p><p>It wasn’t too long before Hiyori spotted Yukine walking up the hallway to their right, a head taller than the younger first years who swarmed in herds to find their classrooms in the never-ending maze of a castle.</p><p>Yato turned to look when Hiyori put her hand up to catch Yukine’s attention as he scanned the courtyard. They watched as Yukine approached, shirt untucked and his shoulders slumped.</p><p>“We missed you at dinner,” Hiyori called softly as he came within earshot.</p><p>Hiyori noted that his tie was neat and correctly tied – no doubt he had been chided for his uniform in detention as well as for his outburst – when Yukine joined them.</p><p>“Didn’t feel like coming up,” Yukine shrugged. “Had some snacks in the common room kitchen instead.”</p><p>Hiyori noticed the dark circles around Yukine’s green eyes. She hoped he wasn’t having trouble sleeping again; nightmares seemed to plague him, real or not. Her attention was caught by fresh white cloth wrapped around Yukine’s left hand as he took his bag from Yato with a muttered ‘thanks’.</p><p>“What happened to your hand?” Hiyori asked. She eyed the sloppily wrapped bandages that swaddled it.</p><p>Yukine shouldered his bag and tucked his hand in his trouser pocket, out of sight. “Herbology accident.”</p><p>Hiyori accepted the excuse without question, but Yato’s eyes narrowed. He could spot the lie from a mile away. Yukine didn’t have Herbology until Friday.</p><p>Yato eyed the pocket that concealed Yukine’s hand, the bandage peeking up over the top of it where it had become loose around his wrist. Gardening accident, perhaps, but Yukine and Suzuha always did that together. Yato couldn’t imagine Yukine would be able to visit the greenhouses alone when he could barely keep it together at the mention of Suzuha’s name. Most worryingly, it had been a day since they had last seen him in Defence class, and now he had emerged with a haphazard bandage that told Yato that no nurse had tended to Yukine’s injury.</p><p>The only incident between then and now was Yukine’s detention.</p><p>“What did she do?” Yato asked. His face was stoic but his eyes pierced straight through Yukine and his fib.</p><p>Yukine blinked, startled at the question. Hiyori looked at Yato in confusion and then back at Yukine as she tried to understand what Yato was talking about. They fell into a tense silence.</p><p>“Oshi, what did she do to you?” Yato repeated the question, this time with a hint of anger in his voice.</p><p>“What are you on about, she didn’t-,” Yukine faltered.</p><p>“You had Charms this morning, and I know you didn’t go to any classes yesterday after Defence,” Yato spoke matter-of-factly, cutting off Yukine’s denial.</p><p>The boys stared at each other for a second, and Yukine cracked. He looked askance, avoiding their worried gazes and feeling shame rise in his chest at what he had done to himself.</p><p>“Show us,” Yato’s voice was softer, but still tight, as he spoke. “Please.”</p><p>Yukine slowly removed his hand from his pocket and held it out, palm facing down. He didn’t make eye contact with either of them.</p><p>Yato stared at the bandages, jaw clenched. Hiyori quietly stepped forward and delicately worked on unraveling the bandages. The more she unwound the white cloth, the brighter the blood splatters became, layer after layer until the bandage came away entirely.</p><p>Hiyori gaped at the wound, the words scarred on his skin an insult to Suzuha’s memory. Yato tilted his head to the side with a scowl as he read the phrase: <em>I must not tell lies</em>.</p><p>“I couldn’t let her win.” There was a tremor in Yukine’s voice. His eyes were misted over, corner of his mouth quivering as he looked down at the disfigurement carved into his hand. A permanent reminder that Suzuha would never receive justice.</p><p>Hiyori looked up into Yukine’s face, appalled at the sadistic punishment Professor Oshi had given him. Words failed her. Hiyori wrapped her arms around Yukine’s neck and hugged him, being careful not to knock his sore hand.</p><p>After a minute Hiyori let him go, her eyes and shoulder wet from both their tears. She let out a shaky breath as she looked back at his hand.</p><p>“Can we fix it?” Hiyori asked. She looked back at Yato who had stayed quiet during this revelation, but his face was contorted in what she could only describe as pure hatred. He wasn’t thinking about healing; he was thinking of revenge.</p><p>Yukine shook his head to Hiyori’s question and began winding the bandage back around his hand, covering the injury. “I’ve already tried poultice and magic, it doesn’t work. It has to heal by itself, if it can.”</p><p>“What <em>did</em> she do?” Hiyori echoed Yato’s question.</p><p>“I wrote this-,” Yukine lifted his hand as an indication, “with a quill on parchment. I don’t even think I was using ink…” Yukine recalled the crimson splatter on pale paper, and he felt sick at the memory.</p><p>Yato broke his silence. “They’re called Black Quills. Dark magic torture devices that write with your blood.”</p><p>Hiyori and Yukine looked at Yato with a mix of shock and horror. <em>Dark magic? Torture?</em></p><p>Yato let out a heavy sigh and ran a hand through his dark hair as he continued to stare at Yukine’s injured hand. “Looks like the Ministry is doing whatever it takes to stop us talking about the Sorcerer.”</p><p>“This is assault! They never use magic as a punishment, let alone torture!” Hiyori cried. “We have to tell someone, the Headmaster!”</p><p>Yato shook his head and Hiyori gaped at him, appalled.</p><p>“Professor Tenjin knows the Sorcerer is back, he told us himself, but he will not – or cannot – stop Professor Oshi.” Yato reasoned. “I don’t think the Ministry would hesitate to depose him if he opposed any of their silencing campaigns, even if it is torture.”</p><p>Hiyori stared at Yato for a second, remembering their conversation on the stairs after their first Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Professor Tenjin was under the Ministry’s thumb now, that much was clear.</p><p>“What do we do then?” Yukine asked. He stood taller than he had before, determined.</p><p>Yato’s previous anger had seeped away, but this sudden calm and collected demeanour and that glint in his blue eyes told them that he was the eye of the storm. No one hurts his family.</p><p>“We need to pretend it was all a lie,” Yato announced. Both Hiyori and Yukine looked disgusted at the idea of admitting the truth was a lie, but they let Yato continue. “We might be letting them win this time, but we won’t let them stop us from learning.”</p><p>“How can we learn if there’s no one to teach us?” Hiyori asked.</p><p>The corner of Yato’s mouth twitched, hiding a smirk at the idea he had. He had a year on them, he knew Defence spells they hadn’t – and wouldn’t – learned yet, and he had far more experience with the Dark Arts.</p><p>“I’ll teach you myself.”</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>For the rest of the week Yato, Yukine and Hiyori planned on who they could recruit for their forbidden class. Kazuma and Bishamon, of course, but they needed to make sure that no one would out them to the teachers.</p><p>Hiyori suggested her friends Aimi and Yama, fifth years like herself and Yukine, who would never tell a secret. There were a few other suggestions, mainly from the Quidditch teams that they could trust.</p><p>Although they had not taken up Quidditch again this year because of exams, the trio recruited a few members from their house teams. Yukine and Hiyori didn’t know any of the Slytherins Yato had found, but Yato recognised some of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff recruits.</p><p>Yugiha, a tall, sweaty Gryffindor boy, and two Gryffindor girls named Aiha and Tsuguha who seemed to detest each other were recruited by Hiyori. Yukine had found two girls from Hufflepuff named Mayu and Mineha had also sought to join their ranks.</p><p>In all they had a good turnout of friends and students who wanted to learn, believing that the Sorcerer was back even though neither Yato, Yukine nor Hiyori confirmed it when asked.</p><p>The trio had found refuge in an abandoned classroom on the seventh floor during their breaks, laying out their plans. No one would come so far up in the castle, even if they were a lost first-year student. It was dank and filled with the old rubbish from the castle over the last hundred years. Moth eaten robes, decaying scrolls and tapestries rolled up in the corners made perfect homes for spiders that cautiously inched their way past the newcomers.</p><p>They had cleaned a few of the rickety desks and perched on dusty stools as they ate. The sun filtered in between the gap in the heavy black curtains that darkened the room and shone split rays onto their faces.</p><p>“We still need to find somewhere to go,” Hiyori said over lunch on Friday. The bell would be going any minute now as it took most of their time to get up and down the stairs to their hideaway.</p><p>“Sakura said something about a room, but I don’t know where, and now she’s not answering me,” Yato said. He was annoyed but still worried that perhaps the Ministry had found Sakura, but Hiyori had reassured him that she was probably busy working with the Order to find the prophecy.</p><p>“We need to search the castle for a place without getting caught,” Yukine said. He had his bandaged hand laying on his tabletop and had reassured both Hiyori and Yato that it was getting better.</p><p>Yato and Yukine leant over a map of Hogwarts on Hiyori’s desk, scanning it over and over every day for clues daily to no avail. It was an older version of the map, one of the few Hiyori was able to borrow from the library. Mysterious stains covered the yellowing parchment and a few small holes had emerged over the years of use.</p><p>They had debated using the haunted girl’s bathroom on the second floor until they realised it was too central to keep secret. The abandoned dungeons or potions rooms sounded promising, but it would look suspicious if too students started going down there. They had exhausted any ideas so far, and they were running out fast.</p><p>Yato, Hiyori and Yukine sat in pensive silence poring over the map until the first bell rang. They gave a collective resigned sighed and grabbed their bags, heading for the door.</p><p>“We’re going to have to run to make it to class,” Yukine complained. Being on the seventh floor made it hell to get anywhere on time, especially the greenhouses when he had Herbology earlier that morning.</p><p>Hiyori’s eyes shifted guiltily. “I need the bathroom first.”</p><p>Yukine looked crestfallen; their next class was with Professor Takemikazuchi and he would kill them if they were late.</p><p>“Go ahead, I’ll be there before the bell,” Hiyori ushered Yukine ahead with Yato before he could complain.  </p><p>They left their hidey-hole and turned down the left corridor, walking quickly. Light from the tall windows shone down in beams and illuminated a wall tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy attempting to teach trolls ballet. Yato and Yukine raced each other down the staircase and Hiyori turned into the girl’s bathroom, smiling softly as she heard their fading footfalls.</p><p>The bathroom was alike to the others in the castle; the porcelain was pristinely clean but there was a fine layer of dust covering some of the surfaces and the mirrors above the sinks. Hiyori’s thoughts stayed on their secret Order and how they would go about sneaking in this forbidden training along with their studies. Her head hurt from thinking about it every second of the day.</p><p>Hiyori washed her hands hurriedly and wiped her hands on her robe as she left the bathroom. She made her way towards the staircase, hand dropping down to her satchel by her side when she noticed it felt emptier than usual.</p><p>Hiyori paused, looked in her bag and sighed. She had left the map of Hogwarts in the room. She jogged past the tapestry once again, the ugly troll faces leering down at her in their pretty pink tutus and shoved her way into the old classroom. She snatched the map up from the table and shoved it in her bag, expecting the second bell to ring out and signal her impending doom.</p><p>Hiyori scurried back into the hallway and sprinted towards the staircase, her hair and tie flying out behind her. The third time Hiyori passed the troll artwork there was a loud, jarring sound like nails on a chalkboard that had Hiyori stumble to a halt.</p><p>She spun around, expecting to see some creature that had hidden itself up in this abandoned turret and was furious at the disturbance. Instead, the wall opposite the tapestry had given away, the pale grey bricks folding themselves away inside a new alcove. Large double doors made of solid oak revealed themselves where the brick once was.</p><p>Hiyori cautiously stepped towards the door as the final bricks slotted into place and silence fell once again. She eyed the black iron handles then looked towards the staircase as the distant bell ring told her she was late to class.</p><p><em>Better late than never,</em> Hiyori thought to herself. When a door appears out of nowhere in Hogwarts there was surely a reason.</p><p>She slowly reached out and took one of the circular handles, pulling one of the heavy doors open with a resounding clatter. With one hand on the door frame, Hiyori peeked inside the room and her mouth dropped open in astonishment.</p><p>She had just found the answer to their problem.</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>Hiyori was late to class, and Professor Takemikazuchi made sure she knew it. Weirdly, Yukine noted that Hiyori didn’t seem to care too much about the rollicking. He watched as she bounded over to him at the back of the class and sat down beside him.</p><p>Professor Takemikazuchi started talking again, and Hiyori leaned over once he had looked away from their direction.</p><p>“We need to find Yato right after class,” Hiyori whispered quickly. Her eyes were shining with excitement, barely able to contain herself.</p><p>Yukine looked at her funnily. They had Potions class all together after this, but the way she spoke in a barely contained whisper had him curious; he hadn’t seen her this excited since the Yule Ball.</p><p>“Why, what did you do?”</p><p>“I found something, its-.” Hiyori kept her voice as low as she could, but it was loud enough for other ears to catch.</p><p>“Miss Iki,” Professor Takemikazuchi barked.</p><p>Hiyori jumped and sat up straight. The professor glared at the pair and the whole class turned to look at them.</p><p>“If it pleases you, you could tell me what it is that’s so important after class?” Professor Takemikazuchi asked.</p><p>Yukine held back a smirk as Hiyori’s cheeks flamed under the stares of her classmates. She wasn’t used to getting into trouble.</p><p>“No sir, sorry,” Hiyori answered.</p><p>Professor Takemikazuchi’s eyes lingered on the pair for a while longer as he talked, wand tapping the board periodically as he spoke about ancient seals, which thankfully wasn’t one of their O.W.L. exams. After a minute or two Hiyori risked another whisper.</p><p>“I’ll show you later,” Hiyori said out of the corner of her mouth, eyes still on the board.</p><p>Thankfully, she wasn’t caught this time, but now the class seemed to pass even slower. Knowing that Hiyori had something to show them after class, Yukine could barely pay attention to the class. Not that he needed to, really.</p><p>When the bell finally rang out Hiyori was the first one out of the door, Yukine trailing close behind. The hallway slowly became saturated with students leaving their classrooms, making it harder for Yukine to keep track of where Hiyori was heading whilst trying to keep his bandaged hand from being knocked by rowdy first-year students. His best guess was that it was outside the Great Hall which Yato normally stood by when he waited for them to come out of class. </p><p>Hiyori wove between the flow of students on the Grand Staircase, eyes scanning the foot traffic. Her eyes fell on Yato at the bottom of the stairs, standing by the closed Great Hall doors, waiting for her and Yukine to come out of class.</p><p>Hiyori’s impatience grew as she tried to make her way past the younger students that lingered on the bottom steps in front of her on the last few steps. She sidestepped them, bumping into a Ravenclaw girl and apologising as she bumped and bashed her way through the stream of oncoming students making their way to the next class.</p><p>“Yato!” Hiyori didn’t dare shout, but there was a tone of urgency in her voice.</p><p>Yato looked around at the sound of his name and found Hiyori practically shoving her way towards him.</p><p>“Hey. Where’s Yukine…?” Yato looked up the staircase and saw Yukine’s familiar tousled hair and annoyed face looking for Hiyori.</p><p>“I have to show you something,” Hiyori said quickly.</p><p>Hiyori grabbed Yato’s wrist and turned back around, catching Yukine’s arm just as he reached the pair. She dragged them both up the staircase against the current of students, hands tightly wrapped around both Yato and Yukine so she wouldn’t lose them.</p><p>“Hiyori, you’re going to make us all late,” Yukine complained.</p><p>“It’s only Madame Kofuku, she won’t care if we’re a bit late,” Hiyori shushed him. “Just don’t look suspicious.”</p><p>Yato and Yukine confused exchanged looks and quietly agreed to let Hiyori drag them up the stairs. She wouldn’t be late to a class unless it was for something important. </p><p>Once they had climbed higher than the fourth floor Hiyori let go of them, but still told them to keep quiet. The number of students had dwindled until there were only a few sixth and seventh years milling around in the upper floors in their free period, but the seventh floor where they had been only an hour ago was deserted entirely.</p><p>They followed Hiyori up the hallway, their footsteps echoing slightly, until they came to a stop underneath the troll tapestry. Finally, Yato spoke up.</p><p>“Hiyori, why are we up here?” Yato asked.</p><p>“We already looked up here, there are no classrooms to use where Oshi won’t find us,” Yukine added. He’d folded his arms over his chest and looked around.</p><p>“Just wait there,” Hiyori said.</p><p>She looked behind at the stairs to make sure no one was watching, and when she was sure, she took a breath and dropped her bag to the floor… and started to jog away.</p><p>Yato and Yukine looked at each other as Hiyori passed them, thinking the same question: <em>What the hell was she doing?</em></p><p>Hiyori made her way to their meeting spot but turned back around at the last second, coming back towards them. She ran past the boys confused faces towards the staircase. Yato and Yukine watched Hiyori run nearly the length of the hallway twice more before she stopped in front of them, out of breath and looking at the wall opposite the tapestry.</p><p>The familiar grating sound reverberated in the hallway, and Yato and Yukine watched as the wall melted away and revealed double doors. Hiyori scooped up her bag and walked towards the newly apparated doors. She put a hand on one of the black iron handles and looked back at Yato and Yukine’s shocked faces.</p><p>“This,” Hiyori smiled triumphantly, “is the Room of Requirement.”</p><p>Hiyori pulled the door open with a loud creak and slipped inside.</p><p>Yato and Yukine looked at each other once again before hurrying after Hiyori. They slipped inside the room, unsure of what to expect, and the door slammed shut behind them.</p><p>The room was dark despite the number of windows that lined the large, rectangular room. Years of dust and neglect had piled onto the diamond-patterned windows, effectively curtaining the entire room and blocking out most of the sunlight. The floor was uneven and grey unlike the rest of the school, telling Yato that this room predated the refurbished flagstones of the castle.</p><p>Yukine had approached a large fireplace that sat at in the centre of the back wall. Sooty grey ashes from the rooms last occupants scattered over the large marble hearth and onto the floor which Yukine trekked prints through as he crossed to one of the wide windows. Yukine dragged his finger through the grime and peeked out of the hole he had made.</p><p>Yato turned slowly on his heel, looking up into the cavernous, cobwebby ceiling and around the drab walls and their empty gas lanterns. Curiously, when he looked back at the door, it was gone. The lightbulb in Yato’s head finally flickered alight when he realised that no one could see the door from the outside either.</p><p>“How did you find this place?” Yato asked. He looked at Hiyori in awe, but she shrugged with a satisfied smile.</p><p>“I forgot the map at lunch. I went back to get it and then-,” Hiyori gestured at the room. “It just appeared to me.”</p><p>They stood in silence for a moment, forgetting all about the Potions class they were meant to be in. it was peaceful here. It was out of the way of students, probably soundproof if there was stone between them and the rest of the school. It was the perfect secret room.</p><p>Yukine approached them as they stood in comfortable silence, wiping a streak of grey dirt on his trouser leg as he cleaned his hand.</p><p>“So, you think this is where we can do our training?” Yukine asked.</p><p>“Yeah,” Hiyori nodded. “Looks like no one knows about this room, it wasn’t even on any of the Hogwarts maps in the library.”</p><p>Hiyori turned to face Yato and continued. “I think this is what Sakura meant, Yato. A room that comes and goes when you need it.”</p><p>Hiyori’s smile hadn’t left her lips, and Yato grinned. She was right.</p><p>“Well then,” Yato said. “We better start cleaning.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I need to give Yukine a break... Nah.<br/>Thank you for all your comments it's encouraging to know there are still people reading ~</p></blockquote></div></div>
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